Welcome to 19th-century Europe, where strength reigns supreme

On January 1861, 1, a warship flying the Prussian Black Eagle flag anchored from Königsberg, crossed the English Channel and landed at Southampton, a port city in southern England.

On this day, many British people came to this port. They heard that this warship came for a peaceful visit. This was a very important thing for Britain. People along the way waved to it.

Here they could see August, the Prussian regent, who had stepped out of the cabin before the ship approached the port and waved to the British people along the coast.

In Southampton, Queen Victoria shook hands with August cordially in front of all the British people present. This scene was also photographed by British newspapers and was a symbol of Anglo-Prussian friendship.

……

This battleship was the first battleship built during the Prussian military reform. When August wanted to build this battleship, Tina expressed strong opposition.

She thought that this would offend Britain, but August thought it was nothing, it was just a warship. No matter how small-minded Britain was, it would not be possible to launch a special military operation against Prussia just because of a warship.

If Britain really wants to fight, it should fight France. The French navy is much stronger than its own broken ships.

During this visit, August brought along Valentina, the Secretary-General of the General Staff, Tina, the Prime Minister of Prussia, and Steinmetz, the Deputy Minister of the General Staff. Originally, August did not want to bring Stein. Because of Metz, Tina thought she had to take him with her. After all, he was the marshal of the Army General Staff. This visit would also have a great impact on the subsequent Anglo-Prussian relations and the war.

Tina didn't want to be pushed too hard by this old marshal anymore. Because of the army reform, the old marshal was very angry with her, so she thought the problem wasn't big anyway, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring her along.

……

Victoria's Royal Guards, the most elite guardsmen, surrounded the entire port. The moment August disembarked, the Prussian national anthem played by a military band rang out all around.

Under this grand and powerful music, Victoria walked on the red carpet and came to August.

"Sister August, is this the first time we have such a grand formal meeting?" Victoria said with a smile.

"For me, this is the second time I've met you, Sister Victoria."

August shook hands with Victoria cordially, and Tina, Valentina, and Steinmetz followed August.

Each of the three of them was equipped with his own horse, and August and Victoria sat in the same carriage, heading towards London with the continuous music around them.

On the carriage, Victoria asked, "How's it going? Doesn't the British welcome talisman suit your wishes?"

August said with a smile, "It's much more grand than I imagined. I'm honored to be appreciated by Sister Victoria."

"In other words, Prussia and the UK have been good friends since ancient times, and this is how we should welcome friends from far away."

Victoria's welcoming team walked from Southampton to London. This is London, the largest financial center in the world and the most prosperous city in Europe.

From here you can see Buckingham Palace in England, as well as other famous buildings, such as the most famous London Bridge.

Outside Buckingham Palace, British Prime Minister John had been waiting here for a long time. Tina got off the horse, saluted the British Prime Minister, and then shook hands with him.

"You are Mr. John, the British Prime Minister, right? I have admired your name for a long time, and you are indeed extraordinary when you meet me today." Tina said politely.

"Miss Tina is the one. As the youngest Prime Minister of Prussia and even Europe, you are really majestic and heroic. Your Highness August is also young and beautiful. Under your governance, Prussia should be able to become the happiest country in Europe. "

"I have no doubt about that."

Both of them knew that the other was telling lies, but they still went on with it all tacitly. John was a veteran in the political arena, and he could certainly see the political significance behind this visit.

He believed that Tina became Prime Minister entirely because August admired her. John had never even heard of her name before, so he looked down on Tina a little bit in terms of qualifications and background.

Tina felt that this old guy had been in the position of prime minister for so many years and had no political achievements. Naturally, she also felt that he was not very powerful and only became prime minister through qualifications.

This little bit of gunpowder hidden in his heart can be regarded as insignificant to this visit. He will not ruin this important visit because of this trivial matter.

After August came to London, Victoria invited her to go shopping around the UK with her. She wanted to show the beautiful side of the British Empire as much as possible.

Seeing that Victoria's kindness was hard to refuse, August simply agreed. Valentina would go with him, while Tina stayed in Buckingham Palace. She had to be responsible for handling some state affairs.

There is a special reception room in the parliamentary office, which sometimes allows members to talk with dignitaries from other countries about state affairs. It is also an important part of the cabinet.

Here Tina met with almost all cabinet members including the British Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Cabinet Ministers, and Admiralty Minister.

"Miss Tina, your country is coming to the UK on behalf of Prussia. This is a very good thing. This is related to the friendship between the two of us. We also hope to negotiate some terms with Prussia that are good for both parties." John said, in order to To be able to develop broader cooperation with Prussia, he made great efforts in all aspects.

"Of course, we think so too. This is very necessary for our two countries to live in peace."

Tina also prepared some terms. She also hoped to get British support on the issue of German unification. To this end, she prepared two versions. One was to squeeze Austria out of Germany and establish a small Germany with Prussia as the core. , and the other was to annex Austria and Bohemia to form Greater Germany.

John and Tina exchanged the contents of the treaty, first of all what Tina hopes to achieve.

The first point is to recognize Prussia's leadership position in the German region and support Prussia in the future regarding the ownership of the German region.

The second point is that the German region has always been in a state of division. Prussia hopes to establish a German Empire with Prussia as the core. However, when it comes to Austria, Prussia wants to incorporate Austria into its own territory, but it still has to take care of Britain. idea.

The third point is the naval treaty. Prussia wants to build a powerful navy. Prussia wants nothing more from Britain, but a powerful navy is the dream of every German, so Prussia wants to sign a naval treaty with Britain. In order to maintain Britain's naval superiority, Prussia's navy only had one-third the size of the British Royal Navy.

The fourth point is that Prussia hopes to establish a trade alliance with the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom and Prussia can distinguish themselves from other countries by re-formulating tariffs and cross-border trade docking agreements between enterprises.

On the British side, it is relatively simple. First of all, the British want to integrate Prussia into the trading system with Britain as the core, that is, the Commonwealth system. In this way, Prussia's economy will be greatly affected by the British.

Then militarily, he also hoped that Prussia could control the size of its navy. The British gave the Prussian navy no more than one-fifth of the total size of the British navy. In any case, it ensured that the British navy was in an absolute superior position.

There is also the hope that Britain can get help from Prussia in the war against the Ming Dynasty. Britain even hopes that Prussia will directly participate in this war.

After carefully exchanging the treaties between the two parties, Tina felt that the size of this navy was really a bit too small. The size of the British Navy was very large. In fact, one-fifth was not a lot, but if one day the two countries really started to fight, , Prussia could not even break through the British blockade.

Tina must prepare for the worst. Of course, this treaty is not absolute. The international situation is very flexible. The treaty may be useful today, but it may become a piece of toilet paper tomorrow.

The British Admiralty showed a solemn expression after reading the treaty given by Prussia. If there were one-third of the total size of the British navy, then Britain might not be able to withstand it if it were to attack the UK in one go during the war. Although the British warships There are many, but a large part of them will be stationed overseas. The local fleet actually only accounts for one-third of the total. If the size of Prussia's navy reaches this number, Britain may be threatened at any time.

The British Chancellor of the Exchequer expressed his approval of the customs union bill proposed by Tina. The British import of steel, coal and other industrial raw materials to Prussia is tax-free, and industrial products only need to pay part of the tariff.

The tariff agreement between the UK and Prussia is similar. The conditions offered by Prussia to the UK are even better than those offered by the UK. The UK also said that the tariffs must be paid to a certain extent. Of course it would be best not to pay them, but it did not think that Prussia would agree. Unexpectedly Prussia is more powerful than imagined.

It's just that Britain may not know that Prussia would offer such conditions. Of course, it cannot be for no reason. It's just that Prussia's steel production has indeed grown rapidly. The country can hardly absorb the extra production capacity, so it will sell the excess production capacity to Britain. is more appropriate.

Moreover, most of the steel plants in Prussia are state-owned enterprises. If other private companies want to build such steel plants and chemical plants, they need to be approved by the state. Large-scale ones may be forced to accept investment from the Prussian government.

Prussia has completely grasped the industrial resources in its own hands. In order to maintain economic stability, Prussia can slightly sacrifice some immediate interests.

Finally, there is the British Prime Minister. He believes that Prussia's territorial requirements are relatively reasonable. If several comprehensive agreements can be brokered, then a unified German Empire will definitely be more in line with Britain's interests than a loose Prussia.

It is not difficult to understand this. The UK wants to maintain the huge system of the Commonwealth. In order to prevent Europe from becoming a powerful country, the UK needs to let them check and balance each other and act as an offshore balancer.

Especially the old powers on the European continent, France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia.

What it hopes most is to keep the strength of the four parties about the same without making one party too strong. In this way, they will focus on developing the army, while Britain can sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and act as a mediator when one party is about to lose.

Of course this can be done in the UK, and it also has strong fault tolerance and operability.

But Prussia wants to directly annex regions such as Austria and Bohemia, which is very bad. This means that the balance of the four parties in Europe will be broken.

The Austrian Empire is an indispensable part of the European balance of power. If it is also integrated into Prussia, it is not completely impossible for Prussia to aspire to European hegemony.

Then Britain would be forced to stand against Prussia, which would be bad for both parties.

"The British government thinks that Prussia may have too much appetite. We can acquiesce in allowing Prussia to complete the unification of the German region, but if even Austria wants it, the British government may not be able to stand idly by."

Tina had already planned this, and she had already thought of a countermeasure.

"If Britain needs a Europe of checks and balances, then I recommend a better candidate than the Austrian Empire."

Tina took out a map and pointed to a country on the Italian peninsula, the Kingdom of Sardinia.

If Europe needs multiple powers to check and balance each other, then wouldn’t it be easy to create a unified power?

The Kingdom of Sardinia, which had territorial disputes with the Austrian Empire, was a small country in northern Italy.

The Kingdom of Sardinia also has territorial conflicts with France, namely the Savoy and Nice areas west of the Alps. Both of these areas are French-speaking and have a greater sense of belonging to France. Napoleon III also wanted to return this area to France. Incorporated into French territory.

But Napoleon III once joined the Carbonari Party, a revolutionary party in Italy. Their goal was to establish a unified Italian country. Napoleon III also had some ideas about establishing a unified Italy.

He also prefers to help the Kingdom of Sardinia, bring back Savoy and Nice peacefully, and have one more ally against Austria.

In addition, Tina also made a message to the British parliamentarians. If Britain is willing to help Prussia's unification war, then Prussia will stand unswervingly with Britain and help Britain withstand the pressure from France and the Kingdom of Sardinia. pressure.

France and the Kingdom of Sardinia alone are no match for Britain, but if the two parties unite, they can still pose a threat to Britain. What's more, the feudal rule of the Austrian Empire is unpopular, the country is in chaos, and its relationship with Britain is not good. Well, the Russian Empire is vacillating and its position is unclear.

Tina promised that as long as Britain is willing to meet Prussia's territorial needs in Europe, Prussia will always stand with Britain.

Tina also made a proposal that Britain would never reject. Prussia could agree to the naval treaty set by Britain, and even send troops to the Ming Dynasty, or help Britain suppress the uprising in Ireland.

John was stunned by this combination of punches. For a moment, he was fooled into the ditch by Tina. At this time, he suddenly realized that the twenty-year-old girl in front of him might indeed have two brushes.